Open Your Eyes
by marap
Summary: A Brooke and Lucas oneshot nearly month after Brooke breaks up with Lucas. Can Lucas get Brooke back and get her to open her eyes, once and for all?


**Open Your Eyes**

A Brooke and Lucas oneshot nearly month after Brooke breaks up with Lucas. Can Lucas get Brooke back and get her to open her eyes, once and for all? Lyrics featured and title are from Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol.

Thanks to Ella for her support and feedback, everyone who read/ reviewed my first Brucas oneshot, 'Breathe' - you encouraged me to keep writing, and to all the girls on the Brucas thread on OTH Writers 911 for their friendship and their insight into Brucas. Also with thanks to my sister Coco for her help.

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_**All this feels strange and untrue  
And I won't waste a minute without you**_

The soft blue paint is chipped and crumbling, barely hanging on to the ceiling. He had never noticed that before. Not until now, as he lay on the bed in the dimly lit room staring up above him at whatever his eyes saw. His blue eyes were heavy but he couldn't sleep, there was no point in trying anymore. So here he lay.

After what seemed like hours Lucas turned his head and looked at the clock on the table beside his bed. Or at least, he aimed to look at the clock, but it wasn't the clock that captured his gaze, rather it was the photo beside his bed. It was of his mom and Keith and a baby him. But that's not what Lucas' eyes saw. His eyes saw him and the girl he loves, smiling, long before the drama that caused everything to change and led to many problems. That photo had been replaced weeks ago, yet Lucas still saw it whenever he looked at the frame it had once fitted in perfectly, confirmed in his life, so definate and true. So gone now.

Everything in his life was normal, or as normal as things got in Tree Hill. Everything but the one thing he needest the most. If only she knew that she was just that. He knew it was his fault, but knowing that didn't help, it only made the pain swell more knowing he could have stopped this. If it wasn't for him, she would be lying beside him now, filling the cold room with a warmth only she could give him.

This knowledge all caught up to him in this one instant and the guilt and pain he felt he could no longer deny. Suddenly he realised that surely, if he had been able to lose her, he would be able to get her back. He knew that gaining something was a lot harder than losing something, but all he knew was that he couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't live his life when the most important thing in it was missing. His life didn't even feel like his life anymore. It felt hollow and small and like a cheap imitiation of his real life, the one where she was the biggest part.

He thought of her and what she must be doing know. Even though she had broken up with him, Lucas knew she needed him too. She had said she needed him to need her, and he knew that he needed her now. Its just ironic that I realise this when I've lost her.. again, he thinks to himself. It couldn't remain this way, he had to change it. He had to try. Anything. Something. He had to fix this. He had to get her to see that their love couldn't be cast away and wasn't something you could just forget about. If these past three-and-a-half weeks had taught him anything it was that. He had to get her to give him another chance. To give _them_ another chance.

_**My bones ache, my skin feels cold  
and I'm getting so tired and so old**_

He drives along the dark road just minutes later. Heading to wherever she was, not that he knew where that was. Lucas thought how suddenly things can change, just minutes ago he had been moping on his bed, and now, he was on the way to get her back. He hoped that suddenly things would change once again this very night, he hoped he could get her back. His fingers drum on the steering wheel nervously as he waits at the red light before him, glad at the prescene of the car behind him, preventing him losing his nerve and turning around. He couldn't give up, he couldn't be nervous, he had to fight for her, that's what she wanted, and that was the only way he was going to get her back. He knew Brooke had too much pride to come back to him, and afterall, why would she do that? She was the one who broke up with him, he reminded himself. The light turned green. He was moving again. He'd decided to try Rachel's house first. Maybe Brooke would be there, maybe he'd find her at home in a similar state to that which he had been in earlier.

But he didn't. Nor did he find her at the rivercourt, or at Haley and Nathans and he didn't think there was even any point in trying Peytons. But seeing as Rachel hadn't been home either he figured that maybe they were out together. He knew the sorts of things the two got up two, and so he figured, it would probably have something to do with alcohol. The bar. They had to be there._ She_ had to be there. Lucas counted his blessings that there was only one bar in Tree Hill as he turned and headed towards the very place that held memories of a Brooke and Lucas just getting to know each other. A Brooke and Lucas, never expecting the journey they were heading on and the experiences they would endure that led them to now.

_**The anger swells in my guts  
And I won't feel these slices and cuts**_

There she is. A shadow of rich brown hair flies over her shoulder as she dances with a few guys, two of whom Lucas recognises from school. If he had to choose guys for Brooke to hang out with, these guys would be the last ones he would choose. What was Brooke doing hanging out with them? Lucas felt angry, angry not only that Brooke wasn't with him but was with other guys, but angry for the fact that she was here in the first place. She had come so far from her nights in bars with random guys and now she was back there again.

One of the guys Brooke was dancing with was facing her with his hands on her back while the other danced just to the side, but ever so close to Brooke. Rachel was dancing next to them, with a couple more guys surrounding her, and one who was trying to dance close to both Brooke and Rachel. Lucas stood at a distance and watched for a brief moment, considering what he should do. Opportunity took control of the situation when Brooke slid away from the guys and made her way to the bar, clearly after something to drink. She sat down on a stool at the bar and didn't notice Lucas until he came up right beside her, standing above her.

_**I want so much to open your eyes  
'cause I need you to look into mine**_

"Luke. What are you doing here?" She glanced up.

"Looking for you", he said sitting down beside her.

"How did you find me?"

"Maybe I know you better than you think", he said. Brooke rolled her eyes and started to walk away, forgetting her drink but just not wanting to have to face Lucas. But in an instant, he was in front of her, not touching her, but blocking her way back to the onlooking guys.

"Lucas." Brooke tried to step aside but he moved quickly in front of her again.

"Please, Brooke. I just need to talk to you", he pleaded as they stood in a slightly quiter side of the room, near to a wall at a slight distance from the edge of the dancefloor.

"No, Lucas! Don't you understand, we broke up!"

"I know that Brooke but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. And I didn't know that that meant I can't ever talk to you."

"Well it does."

"Brooke."

"No Lucas, now if you'll excuse me I have to get back." She started to push past him but he spoke, stopping her.

"Why are you here Brooke?"

"I'm having fun."

"With them?"

**Get up get out get away from these liars  
'cause they don't get your soul or your fire.**

"Brooke, look at them! Who even are they?" he spoke just loud enough for her to hear him clearly but not for the nearby crowd to hear.

"They're my friends."

"Your friends? Brooke they don't even know you."

"Yes they do!"

"How?"

"They don't make me pathetic and weak they make me laugh and they make me happy! They know what I want, Lucas."

"And what do those guys want, Brooke? Look at them." Lucas pleaded with her and gestured his head towards the snickering guys in the corner. They were watching Brooke and making comments to each other.

"Lucas…"

"No, Brooke! All they see is the exact person you tried to prove you weren't."

'This is who I am, Lucas."

"Its not! You are so much better than this. I know that, and so do you."

_**I want so much to open your eyes**_

_**'cause I need you to look into mine.**_

"What I do with my life has nothing to do with you Lucas."

"It does, Brooke!"

"How?"

"Because I love you! How I am supposed to live my life without you, and worse still, knowing this is what you're doing! You are the biggest part of my life, Brooke, I'm not me without you."

"So its about you?"

"No, Brooke, it's about us! You told me that you love me so please just remember that and lets try and work this out, please!"

"Why now?"

"What?"

"Why are you telling me all this now, we've been broken up for weeks and now you tell me this?"

"I realised I had already lived too long without you. I thought I could do it Brooke I really did, but I couldn't. I couldn't be wihout you any longer! And I can't see you like this, hanging out a bar with guys you don't even know or care about. I need you, I know I didn't act like I did but I know that I do. And I know that you need me too."

_**Tell me that you'll open your eyes**_

"I can't Lucas." She paused. "This is what you do! You tell me all these perfect things and make me want to be with you, but then we get together and things always go wrong! You don't tell me what you're thinking or feeling until you lose me, and then when we're back together you just push me away!"

"I know, Brooke. I know. I've tried to work out why I did that and the only thing I can think of is, that as strange as it sounds, I was trying to protect you", he said. Brooke scoffed.

"It sounds ridiculous but just listen, Brooke, please."

_**Tell me that you'll open your eyes.**_

She turned slightly back to him and he caught her eye for a split second before continuing, "I know that us getting back together was really hard for you to do, I know you were really scared to do that after.. last time. I know that you didn't feel totally secure when we got back together Brooke."

"Lucas.. I can't-"

_**Tell me that you'll open your eyes.**_

He ignored her and continued. "And I'm not blaming you, I get it, I do. But I didn't want to make things harder for you by making you worry about me. Like after Keith's death, I didn't want you to have to deal with my problems as well as your own. I wanted you just to be able to feel comfortable around me and I wanted to be someone you could depend on. And I guess part of it was that I didn't want you to think I was weak and needed you to always have to help me. And I figured if I didn't let you all the way in, I wouldn't be able to hurt you. And.." he hesitated. "About the kiss.." Lucas thought for a second how absurd it was that a one-second kiss that didn't mean anything to him could know be referred to as _the _kiss. "I thought that if I didn't tell you things then I wasn't in any risk of upsetting you. I knew how much that would hurt you, and I couldn't bear to see you hurt like that again. But I won't do it again, you have me now Brooke, all of me. And you will have all of me forever. Please, let youself have me." He paused. "I love you."

_**Tell me that you'll open your eyes.**_

Brooke was now facing Lucas, but looking down slighly. Her dark hair hung down in her face, shrouding her misty, though not yet crying, eyes. Lucas placed his fingers beneath her chin and lifted her face so she was looking into his, but Brooke turned away the minute she met his eyes, closing them as she did and Lucas' hand slipping to her cheek. "Pretty girl", he added after a second. Brooke couldn't hold out any more, and with a sudden unsteady breath she turned her face slighly into Lucas' soft hand and opened her eyes, staring back into his. Brooke had never seen such honesty and love as she did in that very moment in Lucas' eyes.

_**Take my hand knot your fingers through mine**_

_**And we'll walk through this dark room for the last time.**_

For a few lingering seconds they were suspended, both unsure of what would happen next but neither wanting this immediate moment to end. Slowly, Lucas dropped his hand from Brooke's face, and her eyes followed his arm as he extened it and placed his open before her. She lifted her eyes to look into his, which were glazing yet soft and urging her to take his hand. She dropped her eyes to his hand once again and lifted her shaky porcelain hand, dropping it into his open palm. Lucas breathed a breath of relief and knotted his fingers though Brooke's, locked together, strong and safe. He lifted their hands and kissed their intertwined fingers before standing up and gently outstretching his arm which was holding brooke's hand, parting them as far as their interlocked hands would allow and gently pulling on her to follow him. Brooke hesistated only briefly, before standing up and letting Lucas lead her from the dimly lit room of the bar that was an old friend soon to be gleefully forgotten.

Her eyes fluttered closed and she had to shake herself to stop herself from letting sleep take over. She couldn't sleep. Not now. She had to stay awake for him, what if he needed her? She had to be awake for when _he_ finally was. For when his heart let him open his eyes.

_**Tell me that you'll open your eyes.**_

She looked down at his hand in hers and remembered the day two years ago when she had taken it and led him lead her away. Away from the part of her life that she once and for all had left behind. She ran her hand along the scar on his hand that he had told her about in high school as she began to speak.

_**Tell me that you'll open your eyes.**_

"Luke". Her mind told her that he couldn't hear her, yet her heart told her that he could. "Do you remember when I did what you asked and took you back that night at the bar? I opened my eyes."

_**Tell me that you'll open your eyes.**_

"Now I want you to do something for me Luke. That's how its always been with us hasn't it?". She gave a weak chuckle, "I do something for you and you to something for me. This time's different Luke, this is really important, more important that anything else before."

_**Tell me that you'll open your eyes.**_

"I want you to open your eyes too, Luke. Please. For me. I did it for you, you owe me. Please, Luke. Open your eyes."

And once again they were suspended, floating in time, unsure of what would happen next. But then time started again, and Brooke hoped like she had never hoped before.

She heard an unsteady breath.

_**All this feels strange and untrue**_

_**And I won't waste a minute without you.**_

And his eyes opened.


End file.
